Speaker Bios

Vanessa Broadhurst
Executive Vice President | Global Corporate Affairs, J&J

Vanessa Broadhurst is Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs of Johnson & Johnson and a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. Vanessa leads the Corporation’s global marketing, communication, design and philanthropy functions, in addition to oversight of J&J Health & Wellness Solutions. Vanessa was named one of the “2020 Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America” by SAVOY magazine. Vanessa has also been recognized as “Healthcare Champion of the Year” by the National Association for Female Executives, and “Top Blacks in Healthcare” by Blackdoctors.org.

Aaron Johnson
Owner and CEO | Oasis Fresh Market
Tulsa, OK

Aaron “AJ” Johnson is the Founder and CEO of Oasis Fresh Markets, the first full service supermarket in North Tulsa's historically black neighborhood, once called ‘Black Wall Street’, in 14 years. Johnson grew up in Milwaukee, WI and saw at a young age the tremendous differences between resourced and under-resourced communities. Whether it was the school systems, parks/playgrounds, and even to buy groceries, many North Tulsa residents had to travel for miles and miles outside of their own community to enjoy and have the same access and qualities of life that other non distressed communities have readily available. After his parents’ divorce, AJ moved to Tulsa, where he learned the residents in North Tulsa neighborhoods have a life expectancy 11 years shorter than South Tulsa communities, and where only 1 in 7 people have access to a vehicle. After graduating from The University of Tulsa, Johnson knew he wanted to contribute to his community. Following a stint as Executive Director of the Tulsa Dream Center that was located in North Tulsa, focused on food, medical, & education, Johnson opened Oasis Fresh Markets in the heart of North Tulsa to provide fresh and healthy access to all.

Ivelyse Andino
Founder & CEO | Radical Health
New York, NY

After experiencing firsthand how difficult it is to maneuver through healthcare, Ivelyse set out to create a much more inclusive way of navigation. Since its founding in 2015, Radical Health has invested thousands of hours into conversations that have led to ensuring people better understand their diagnoses. By fostering those important connections at the intersection of community, health, and tech, Radical Health makes sure nobody gets left behind.

Jabraan Pasha
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Associate Professor of Medicine | University of Oklahoma Health
Tulsa, OK

Dr. Pasha is a physician, educator and social activist. He currently serves as an associate professor of internal medicine and assistant dean of student affairs at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa. As a practicing physician Jabraan has been working on finding ways for patients to get better overall care and that is through working with healthcare workers/providers on understanding bias & social determinants of health. As a trusted resource Jabraan also launched his podcast Lean In with Dr. Jabraan Pasha to be able to tackle misinformation and address a broad range of issues that impact patients and providers.

Ashlee Wisdom
CEO | Health in her HUE
New York, NY

Ashlee’s company, Health in Her Hue, connects Black women and other women of color to culturally sensitive doctors, doulas, nurses and therapists nationally. Wisdom got her app idea from being so stressed while working a job during grad school that she broke out in hives. "It was really bad," Wisdom recalls. "My hand would just swell up and I couldn't figure out what it was." The breakouts also baffled her allergist, a white woman, who told Wisdom to take two Allegra every day to manage the discomfort. "I remember thinking if she was a Black woman, I might have shared a bit more about what was going on in my life," Wisdom says. The moment inspired her to build an online community. Her idea started off small. She found health content in academic journals, searched for eye-catching photos that would complement the text and then posted the information on Instagram.

Erica Plybeah
Founder & CEO | MedHaul
Memphis, TN

Erica witnessed the struggle her grandmother, a Type 2 Diabetic, double-leg amputee, faced when seeking non-emergency transportation to her doctor’s appointments and knew that something needed to be done. The 33-year-old CEO of Memphis-based med tech company MedHaul, took matters into her own hands and created a platform to help healthcare providers facilitate special-needs transportation for patients to and from their medical appointments.

Erin Aethy
Family Nurse Practitioner & Founder Community Concierge Care LLC

Dr. Erin Athey is a family nurse practitioner, educator and community engaged scholar who has spent the last 15 years working on innovative community-based programs in Washington, DC. Her work, including a boots-on-the-ground mental health literacy for adults and youth and a mobile health COVID-19 testing and vaccination program, have stemmed from her desire to improve health care delivery to under-resourced and disenfranchised communities. These experiences have culminated in the recent development of her nurse-led, wellness hub model in public housing and the formation of a new company, Community Concierge Care (“C3 Cares”). C3 Cares was the recipient of the 2021 Johnson and Johnson Quickfire Challenge for Nurses: Improving Access to Care.

Thursday, June 23, 2022
Aspen Institute Koch Tent
4:00-4:50 pm - Healthcare in Critical Condition: Who Cares When Nurses Leave

This event will be moderated by:

Shawna Butler | SEE YOU NOW host, RN and thought leader

Shawna, RN, MBA, brings her background in nursing and business to uplift nurses and strengthen health care. Her clinical experience includes emergency, cardiac and critical care in large university and small community hospitals, international medical flight transport and workplace health promotion services; these various roles have taken her across the world and imbued her with a uniquely broad but focused understanding of health systems, health outcomes and the impact of technology and policy. As the host of Johnson & Johnson Nursing’s SEE YOU NOW podcast, Shawna highlights the innovative and human-centered solutions driven by nurses who are addressing today's most challenging healthcare problems.

Julie Kennedy Oehlert
Chief Experience Officer | Vidant Health 

Julie is chief experience officer for ECU Health, driving the experience and culture there, including patient and team member experience and workplace well-being. Oehlert also serves as chief of marketing and communications, a role that includes both internal and external communications, digital, social, and public relations. She has operational responsibility for environmental services, food services, language access services, experience team, and patient and family advisors across the ECU Health system. Her clinical practice is emergency trauma nursing and in her career she has served in a variety of clinical, operational, consultative, and strategic roles across the health care continuum, remaining a perpetual student of design thinking and culture disruption. Oehlert is adjunct faculty for East Carolina University College of Nursing.

Chris Friese
Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of Nursing | University of Michigan School of Nursing

Chris is Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor and director of the Center for Improving Patient and Population Health at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. A national authority on measuring and improving the quality of cancer care delivery, Friese has led pivotal studies to develop and test strategies to improve outcomes of high-risk care. His research findings were among the first to establish a significant relationship between favorable nurse practice environments and lower surgical mortality. Friese continues to practice as a staff nurse at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, with clinical expertise in hematological malignancies and advanced cancers. In 2021, President Biden appointed Friese to the National Cancer Advisory Board, which advises on national cancer research policy.

Karen Dale
CEO & Chief DEI Officer | AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies

Karen is market president for AmeriHealth Caritas’ Medicaid managed care organization in Washington, D.C. In addition, Dale was appointed to AmeriHealth Caritas’ new position of chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer (CDEIO). As CDEIO, Dale leads the planning and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies across the organization to link workforce, workplace, health equity, and supplier diversity with measurable business and cultural outcomes. In multiple positions of leadership during the past two decades, Dale has addressed policies and other key factors impacting the delivery of health care services. Efforts include using digital tools in chronic disease management, outreach through community health workers, and programs addressing Black maternal health, racism, housing, transportation, violence interruption, and food insecurity.